New Delhi, Sep. 10 : The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Saturday described terrorism and naxalism as the two major challenges facing civil society and the polity of the country.

Addressing the 15th meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) here, Dr. Singh said: "The problems of terrorism and Left Wing Extremism constitute two major challenges that our society and polity face today. The terrorist attack in Delhi last Wednesday is a stark reminder to us that there can be no let up in our vigilance."

He further said: "Time and again our nation has been subjected to terrorist violence. Terrorists seek to justify such violence based on misplaced sense of ideology. The institutions and instruments of our democratic polity allow sufficient opportunity for articulating differing points of view without recourse to violence."

"No civilized society can tolerate or endorse loss of innocent lives in the pursuit of any ideology. This council must unequivocally send out a message that pursuit of violence cannot be justified under any circumstance and reaffirm our collective resolve to fight the menace of terrorism in all its manifestations with all the means at our disposal," Dr. Singh said.

"We must continuously upgrade and strengthen our investigating agencies and our intelligence gathering apparatus to deal more effectively with the newer methods and technologies that the terrorists and Naxals adopt. In the last few years we have tried hard to achieve this," the Prime Minister added.

"As I have said before, the problem of Naxalism has a development dimension also and the Central Government is making special efforts for development of backward areas, many of which are affected by Left Wing Extremism," said Singh. The Central and State Governments have to work together to confront the challenges to our internal security and we will strive hard for greater coordination not only between the Centre and States but also between States, Singh said during his address.

"Security from internal and external disturbances is a sine qua non for a nation state and steps to ensure this have always been accorded the highest priority in government," said Singh, adding, " Security matters have been regularly reviewed and discussed jointly with State Governments.

"We have also taken up security issues with our neighbours and I am happy that some of our neighbours have extended cooperation, which has proved helpful in controlling violence in the North-East. However, concerns remain and these will continue to be addressed," the Prime Minister said.

Dwelling on the issue of radicalisation of the youth of the country, Dr. Singh said: "We need to identify and address the causes of radicalization of some of our youth. Very clearly, lack of productive employment opportunities for our young men and women is one factor which aids such radicalization."

He further said: "Education and skill development opportunities have a major role to play in addressing this problem. The launch of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will enable us to build on the gains made in elementary education."

"We have made efforts at providing more opportunities with greater inclusion in higher education. We hope, these measures will help our youth harness the opportunities that a growing economy like India provides," Singh said.

"We need to distinguish between criminal activities and misguided discontent that finds unlawful expression. It is with this intent that the Home Ministry has circulated instructions for dealing with crowds in a non-lethal manner. I urge the Chief Ministers to ensure that these are made operational by appropriately equipping and training the police forces," the Prime Minister added. (ANI)